Checking for and finding wins on Facebook and Twitter

Checking for wins on Twitter

I also recommend you put your twitter name into the twitter search bar once in a while without the @ at the front just in case the promoter forgot to include that when mentioning a win for you.

If you have won - the promoter will normally request that you either email with your details for delivery of your prize.

Alternatively, the promoter will DM or request that you DM them - DM means Direct Message and is a way to contact people privately on Twitter without others seeing the message.

To send a DM to someone,they must be following you - so if you are unable to send a DM to a promoter don't panic - just send them a tweet to let them know they need to follow you so you can DM them.

To send a DM,visit the promoter's Twitter page or click their name on one of their tweets. Next to the 'follow' button is a button with the black outline icon of a person's head and shoulders with a little arrow next to it - the option for 'send a direct message' is there.

To check your DMs - find the same button on your own twitter homepage of the heads and shoulders black image and click it and the option will be there as 'direct messages'.

Checking for wins on Facebook

Make sure you check your messages and 'others' message folder on a regular basis. Simply click 'messages' and then 'other'.

It is also a good idea to use the free group 'The Winner's Circle'

Members of the group look out for winner's names being mentioned on Facebook and post up the details.

Request to join the group and use the search bar within the group to search for you Facebook name and any posts with your name that have been found and posted up in the group will show.

Checking for wins using Google:

1) Google yourself on a regular basis

2) I use the following when I search - feel free to borrow this:

congratulations OR congrat OR winner OR won "sandy hallett"

Change the name in the brackets to the name/s you use when entering competitions. It is also a good idea to check for incorrectly spelt wins; I also search with my surname spelt: halet, hallet, halett

3) When you have pressed the search button you can go into the advanced search options on google (which is an option near the search bar on the right or if you are logging in on google in the very top right - looks like a cog wheel symbol.)
From the advanced search options you can choose things like searching for a specific timeframe (I always pick monthly) and even from a specific site - so if you only enter competitions on Facebook - you could type facebook.com into the site name box.

These are handy hints for if you have a popular name.

4) You can also set up Google alerts, which will email you when new hits for your search term are found - this does seem to be a bit hit and miss but worth setting up as a backup thing: www.google.com/alerts